The Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule for calendar year 2018 includes physician payment and quality program changes.

The FAQs outline how hospitals should complete the form's free-text field and clarify that the form must be issued to Medicare Advantage enrollees.

Hospitals will be required to provide the form and accompanying instructions to applicable Medicare patients starting March 8.

The new guidance outlines how and when hospitals must deliver the notice, retention requirements, and how the notices intersect with state laws.

New guidance describes how off-campus hospital provider-based departments can maintain their grandfathered status when relocating due to extraordinary circumstances.

The BBA’s “site neutral” policy creates serious, unintended consequences for vulnerable people, and CMS rules do not provide enough flexibility.

All hospitals and critical access hospitals will be required to provide the MOON to applicable patients beginning March 8, 2017.

Congress plans to vote on a continuing resolution to keep the government running past Dec. 9. The Senate is expected to pass 21st Century Cures legislation.

Under the rule, CMS would increase the OPPS payment rate by 1.65 percent and provide flexibility in the meaningful use of EHRs, among other things.

CMS provides more flexibility than previously proposed, ensuring non-grandfathered, off-campus hospital outpatient departments will be reimbursed in 2017.

America's Essential Hospitals denounces the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services decision to limit flexibility and withhold hospital payments for new, off-campus hospital outpatient departments.

In letter to CMS, association raises issues of payment, definition of off-campus outpatient department of a provider, and 340B eligibility.

Essential hospitals rely on Medicare as a vital funding source for about a quarter of their patients. But funding shortfalls and regulatory changes that would further undermine the program put vulnerable patients at risk.

Association responds to House lawmakers' request for comment on Medicare's new payment policy for off-campus hospital outpatient departments. Congress works on FY 2017 budget, holds hearings on Zika virus and opiod abuse.

The new FAQ clarify that site neutral law won't impact PO modifier requirements. PO modifiers must be included on claims as of Jan. 1 for all services and items furnished in off-campus, provider-based departments.

House and Senate lawmakers negotiate omnibus appropriations bill and two-year extension of tax cuts, but fail to provide relief on new Medicare site-neutral payment policy for hospital outpatient departments.

NOTICE Act seeks to educate patients about impact of observation status, including on cost-sharing and skilled nursing facility eligibility.

Annual release includes 2013 data related to the 100 most common diagnoses for Medicare patients requiring inpatient stays and 30 selected outpatient procedures.

Preliminary testing to include random, representative sample of 50 hospital outpatient departments, 50 ambulatory surgery centers

Topics of member interest include payment updates, the OQR Program, and the MSSP.

The rules, released Oct. 31, finalized a number of provisions regarding payments, data collection in outpatient departments, quality programs, and the MSSP.

The association urged CMS to revise its C-APC proposal and opposed its proposal to add a claims-based modifier for every outpatient service provided in off-campus provider-based departments.

The agency proposes to increase payment rates by an outpatient department fee schedule increase factor of 2.1 percent for CY 2015. CMS also proposes to collect data on services provided in off-campus provider-based departments by requiring hospitals and physicians to identify these services using a modifier on hospital and physician claims.